Snowboarding Contests for Teens

Snowboarding is a fast-growing sport with contests across the country in many disciplines of the sport. To encourage young snowboarders to grow within the sport, many contests are put on that target teen riders, both male and female. These contests can run the gantlet from offering prize money and requiring qualification to enter all the way to free events that are mostly for fun and for the riders to have a good time with some friendly competition.

  1. Freeride World Tour Junior Events

    • The FWT junior events are freeride events for snowboarders in two age categories, one being 12 to 14 and the other being 15 to 17. These contests are for high-level riders and are very dangerous events, as they put the riders in uncontrolled terrain and they are scored on the manner in which they get down the mountain. For the 2011 season, there were three events in Europe, one in Austria, one in France and one in Switzerland.

    USASA Events

    • The Unites States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) is the largest organizational body in the country for amateur snowboard events. They host events in all regions of the country in many disciplines of snowboarding. Some events that teens can compete in are boarder cross, half pipe and slope style. There are four different age groups that include kids of teen age. The Breaker group is 12 to 13, the Youth group is 14 to 15, the Junior group is 16 to 17 and the Jams group is 18 to 22.

    Volcom Peanut Butter and Rail Jam

    • These contests put on by outerwear company Volcom offer the chance for the snowboarding youth to compete in a rail jam. A rail jam means that the athletes are hitting a rail feature and have 20 minutes to impress the judges. There are 18 events throughout North America and four divisions to compete in. There is the 15 and under division, the 16 and over division, the girls division and the open division. These events are free to competitors.

    The Grenade Games

    • The Grenade Games are the brainchild of Olympic medalist Danny Kass and are hosted at Mammoth Mountain, California. All ages are invited to attend the invite, so it is a teen-friendly event. Events include half pipe contests, big air and rail events. The event spans two days and is usually held in March.